Yet another chapter in the decade-and-a-half-long battle over a Chico scrap yard will be written Tuesday when the Chico City Council again takes up the subject.
Turn of the century zoning changes by county officials launched a process that would have forced the long-standing business to move or shutter long ago. But the recalcitrant and politically deft owners of the business have leveraged legal proceedings and shifting political majorities on the city council to their advantage.
A deal approved 11 years ago gave the business until the end of December 2011 to relocate or close. The zoning change was meant to remove an industrial facility, with its sorting, crushing and baling of scrap metal from an area of modest homes and strip malls adjacent to an elementary school.
Supporters of the facility like to point to the nearby Sierra Nevada brewery, which also produces odors and generates truck traffic. But heavy lifting at the brewery is contained indoors and the smell of roasting hops isn’t exactly analogous. The brewery’s land is zoned for industry.
The proposal before the council Tuesday would open the door to allowing the scrap yard to remain indefinitely with a spruced up facade.
The council will also consider a proposal by Councilman Andrew Cooledge to lift the city’s ban on fireworks. The meeting is scheduled to get underway at 6:30 p.m.
